# Volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics was the 14th edition of the event at an Olympic Games, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 6 to 20 August 2016.
China won their third gold by defeating Serbia in the final. The United States won bronze by winning against the Netherlands.
The medals for the competition were presented by Yu Zaiqing, People's Republic of China; Anita DeFrantz, United States of America; and Chang Ung, Democratic People's Republic of Korea; members of the International Olympic Committee, and the gifts were presented by Ary Graça, Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz and Aleksandar Boričić, President and Executive Vice-Presidents of the FIVB.

## Competition schedule

| P | Preliminary round | ¼ | Quarter-finals | ½ | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| Sat 6 | Sun 7 | Mon 8 | Tue 9 | Wed 10 | Thu 11 | Fri 12 | Sat 13 | Sun 14 | Mon 15 | Tue 16 | Tue 16 | Wed 17 | Wed 17 | Thu 18 | Thu 18 | Fri 19 | Sat 20 | Sat 20 |
| P | | P | | P | | P | | P | | ¼ | ¼ | | | ½ | ½ | | B | F |

## Qualification

| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host Country | — | — | 1 | Brazil |
| 2015 World Cup | 22 August – 6 September 2015 | Japan | 2 | China |
| 2015 World Cup | 22 August – 6 September 2015 | Japan | 2 | Serbia |
| European Qualifier | 4–9 January 2016 | Ankara | 1 | Russia |
| South American Qualifier | 6–10 January 2016 | Bariloche | 1 | Argentina |
| North American Qualifier | 7–9 January 2016 | Lincoln | 1 | United States |
| African Qualifier | 12–16 February 2016 | Yaoundé | 1 | Cameroon |
| Asian Qualifier | 14–22 May 2016 | Tokyo | 1 | South Korea |
| 1st World Qualifier | 14–22 May 2016 | Tokyo | 3 | Italy |
| 1st World Qualifier | 14–22 May 2016 | Tokyo | 3 | Netherlands |
| 1st World Qualifier | 14–22 May 2016 | Tokyo | 3 | Japan |
| 2nd World Qualifier | 20–22 May 2016 | San Juan | 1 | Puerto Rico |
| Total | Total | Total | 12 | |

## Pools composition

Teams were seeded following the Serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of October 2015. FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of Pool A regardless of the World Ranking. Rankings are shown in brackets except Hosts who ranked 3rd. The pools were confirmed on 23 May 2016.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Brazil (Hosts) | United States (1) |
| Russia (4) | China (2) |
| Japan (5) | Serbia (6) |
| South Korea (9) | Italy (8) |
| Argentina (12) | Netherlands (14) |
| Cameroon (21) | Puerto Rico (16) |

## Venue

* Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
* Ginásio do Maracanãzinho
* Capacity: 11,800

## Format

The preliminary round was a competition between the twelve teams divided into two pools of six teams. This round, the teams competed in a single round-robin format. The four highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage (quarter-finals). The sixth placed teams in each pool was ranked eleventh in this competition. The fifth placed teams in each pool was ranked ninth. The knockout stage followed the single-elimination format. The losers of the quarter-finals were eliminated and ranked fifth. The quarter-final winners played in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals competed for gold medals and the losers played for bronze medals.

## Pool standing procedure

In order to establish the ranking of teams after the group stage, the following criteria should be implemented:
* Number of matches won
* Match points
* Set ratio
* Setpoint ratio
* Results between tied teams (head-to-head record)
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

## Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.
* Hernán Casamiquela
* Arturo Di Giacomo
* Rogerio Espicalsky
* Paulo Turci
* Liu Jiang
* Denny Cespedes
* Nasr Shaaban
* Heike Kraft
* Mohammad Shahmiri
* Fabrizio Pasquali
* Luis Macias
* Piotr Dudek
* Ibrahim Al-Naama
* Andrey Zenovich
* Vladimir Simonović
* Juraj Mokrý
* Kang Joo-hee
* Susana Rodríguez
* Taoufik Boudaya
* Patricia Rolf

## Preliminary round

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−03:00).

### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil (H) | 5 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 0 | MAX | 377 | 272 | 1.386 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Russia | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 3.000 | 393 | 323 | 1.217 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | South Korea | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 1.429 | 384 | 372 | 1.032 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 0.778 | 347 | 364 | 0.953 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Argentina | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 0.214 | 319 | 407 | 0.784 | |
| 6 | Cameroon | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 0.133 | 328 | 410 | 0.800 | |

### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 5 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 3.000 | 470 | 400 | 1.175 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Netherlands | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 2.000 | 455 | 425 | 1.071 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Serbia | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 2.000 | 410 | 394 | 1.041 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | China | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 1.000 | 398 | 389 | 1.023 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Italy | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 0.333 | 351 | 374 | 0.939 | |
| 6 | Puerto Rico | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.000 | 277 | 379 | 0.731 | |

## Knockout stage

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−03:00).
The first ranked teams of both pools played against the fourth ranked teams of the other pool. The second ranked teams faced the second or third ranked teams of the other pool, determined by drawing of lots. The drawing of lots was held after the last match in the preliminary round.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | |
| Brazil | 2 | | | |
| Brazil | 2 | 18 August | 18 August | | |
| China | 3 | 18 August | 18 August | |
| China | 3 | China | 3 | |
| 16 August | 16 August | | China | 3 | |
| 16 August | 16 August | Netherlands | 1 | |
| South Korea | 1 | Netherlands | 1 | |
| South Korea | 1 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Netherlands | 3 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| Netherlands | 3 | | | | China | 3 |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | | | China | 3 |
| 16 August | 16 August | | | | Serbia | 1 |
| Russia | 0 | | | | Serbia | 1 |
| Russia | 0 | 18 August | 18 August | | | |
| Serbia | 3 | 18 August | 18 August | | | |
| Serbia | 3 | Serbia | 3 | | | |
| 16 August | 16 August | | Serbia | 3 | | | |
| 16 August | 16 August | United States | 2 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Japan | 0 | United States | 2 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| Japan | 0 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| United States | 3 | | | | 20 August | 20 August |
| United States | 3 | | | | Netherlands | 1 |
| | | | | | United States | 3 |

### Gold medal match
## Statistics leaders

* Only players whose teams advanced to the semifinals are ranked.
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Zhu Ting | 179 |
| 2 | Lonneke Slöetjes | 157 |
| 3 | Tijana Bošković | 137 |
| 4 | Brankica Mihajlović | 121 |
| 5 | Anne Buijs | 104 |
| 5 | Foluke Akinradewo | 104 |
| Rank | Name | %Eff |
| 1 | Zhu Ting | 42.27 |
| 2 | Brankica Mihajlović | 31.60 |
| 3 | Lonneke Slöetjes | 28.57 |
| 3 | Jordan Larson | 28.57 |
| 5 | Kimberly Hill | 28.00 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Milena Rašić | 0.83 |
| 2 | Robin de Kruijf | 0.76 |
| 3 | Foluke Akinradewo | 0.56 |
| 3 | Rachael Adams | 0.56 |
| 5 | Zhu Ting | 0.48 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Milena Rašić | 0.57 |
| 2 | Tijana Bošković | 0.33 |
| 3 | Anne Buijs | 0.30 |
| 4 | Hui Ruoqi | 0.29 |
| 5 | Jordan Larson | 0.26 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Debby Stam | 2.30 |
| 2 | Lin Li | 1.90 |
| 3 | Silvija Popović | 1.80 |
| 4 | Kayla Banwarth | 1.75 |
| 5 | Jordan Larson | 1.56 |
| Rank | Name | Avg |
| 1 | Alisha Glass | 10.47 |
| 2 | Laura Dijkema | 10.36 |
| 3 | Maja Ognjenović | 9.03 |
| 4 | Ding Xia | 5.52 |
| 5 | Wei Qiuyue | 4.74 |
| Rank | Name | %Succ |
| 1 | Silvija Popović | 45.32 |
| 2 | Jordan Larson | 44.05 |
| 3 | Kayla Banwarth | 41.72 |
| 4 | Zhu Ting | 39.16 |
| 5 | Lin Li | 35.06 |
Source: FIVB.org

## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | China |
| | Serbia |
| | United States |
| 4 | Netherlands |
| 5 | Brazil |
| 5 | Japan |
| 5 | South Korea |
| 5 | Russia |
| 9 | Argentina |
| 9 | Italy |
| 11 | Cameroon |
| 11 | Puerto Rico |
* 2016 Women's Olympic champions
* China 3rd title
* 12–woman roster
* Ding Xia, Gong Xiangyu, Hui Ruoqi (c), Lin Li (L), Liu Xiaotong, Wei Qiuyue, Xu Yunli, Yan Ni, Yang Fangxu, Yuan Xinyue, Zhang Changning, Zhu Ting
* Head coach
* Lang Ping

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| China (CHN)Wei Qiuyue Xu Yunli Hui Ruoqi (c) Zhang Changning Yang Fangxu Lin Li (L) Yan Ni Zhu Ting Ding Xia Gong Xiangyu Liu Xiaotong Yuan Xinyue Head coach: Lang Ping | Serbia (SRB)Jelena Nikolić Maja Ognjenović (c) Stefana Veljković Jovana Brakočević Bojana Živković Milena Rašić Brankica Mihajlović Bianka Buša Jovana Stevanović Tijana Bošković Tijana Malešević Silvija Popović (L) Head coach: Zoran Terzić | United States (USA)Courtney Thompson Jordan Larson-Burbach Foluke Akinradewo Christa Harmotto-Dietzen (c) Alisha Glass Carli Lloyd Karsta Lowe Kayla Banwarth (L) Kelly Murphy Kelsey Robinson Kimberly Hill Rachael Adams Head coach: Karch Kiraly |

## Awards

* Most valuable player
    Zhu Ting
* Best setter
    Alisha Glass
* Best outside spikers
    Zhu Ting
    Brankica Mihajlović
* Best middle blockers
    Milena Rašić
    Foluke Akinradewo
* Best opposite spiker
    Lonneke Slöetjes
* Best libero
    Lin Li